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Education Resources

Groups and Group Dynamics

Monday, June 8, 2009

The group concept is as old as civilization. In the primitive age group was a basic unit of survival. On this group chapter we have to focuses on group dynamics and principles of group dynamics.

Groups and Group Dynamics Objectives:

Meaning of group

Characteristics and functions of groups

Different types of groups

Group characteristics

Group dynamics and principles of group dynamics

About group Kimball Young defines, “two or more persons in a state of social interaction.” Sherif and Sherif define about group as, “a social unit which consists of a number of individuals who stand in definite status and role relationships to one another and which possesses a set of values or norms of its own regulating the behaviour of individual members, at least in matters of consequence to the group.”

Normally group characters define in four parts 1) two or more people, 2) who interact with one another, 3) share some common ideology, and 4) see themselves as a group.

On the formal group MBA book MB 0027 writes, “The formal work group has a designated leader who supervises group members, mediates rewards and punishments, and is responsible for group performance to a higher authority in the organization.”

On the informal work groups, “Informal groups are loosely organized groups such as bowling teams and social clubs that arise apart from the formal organization to which members of the informal group may belong.”

Thomas Harrll has defined group dynamics as, “an expression that describes the situation in which people acting together in a group accomplish certain thing, either positively or negatively in a way that cannot be explained adequately in terms of the individual acting separately.”

Cartwright has termed principles of group dynamics which are:

If a group is to be used effectively as a medium of change, those who are to be changed and those who are to wield an influence for change must have a strong sense of belonging to the same group, i.e., the barriers between the leaders and the led should be broken down.

The more attractive a group is to its members, the greater the influence it would exercise on its members.

The higher the prestige of a group member in the eyes of the members, the greater the influence he will exercise on them.

Information relating to the need for change, plans for change, and the consequence of change must be shared by all the members of a group.

In the end of the chapter we can say that group dynamics is concerned with the interactions and forces between group members in a social situation.

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